Sharni Vinson, 30, appeared in soap opera Home And Away for four years before heading to Hollywood. She stars in horror film You’re Next.

Did you have a nice time making You’re Next? It was so much fun. One of my best friends, Wendy Glenn, is also in the movie. We lived together in LA for four years and it was great to get to work with her.

Did you enjoy the action scenes? I’ve always been very active and into sports from a young age, so to take those things and incorporate them into a role was a dream. I spent my childhood dancing, swimming, doing life-saving lessons, riding a horse at pony club, and I did martial arts too.

Your character in the film is good with a hammer. Do you have DIY skills? I just moved house and bought a fire pit, barbecue, new table and chair, and assembled everything myself – so I’ll do it if there’s no one around to help me but I don’t really love it. I’d prefer to leave it to a guy – they seem to enjoy doing that stuff.

You did the Australian horror film Patrick – are you carving out a niche in the horror world? It looks that way but it wasn’t intentional. I really enjoyed the scripts and my characters in them. I knew writer Simon Barrett and director Adam Wingard on You’re Next were jewels waiting to be shown to the public and wanted to be attached to that team. The same thing with Patrick and Charles Dance and Rachel Griffiths – you couldn’t ask for better co-stars. I just want to do roles with people who challenge me. It’s very inspirational.

What inspired you to become an actress? I was six years old and watched the movie A Chorus Line 800 million times. I was at the point where I’d get up and recite every line from the movie and knew all the dance steps and made the family sit down and watch me do it. My godfather had flown up from Melbourne and had never seen me do it before, and he said to my mum: ‘That kid is destined for Hollywood.’ I looked at him and said: ‘That’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to go to Hollywood and work in the movies.’ It was weird because I was six but I meant it.

Your mother was an actress as well, wasn’t she? She’d worked in musical theatre and my grandmother had been a ballerina. She was flown over to England at the age of 14 on a ballet scholarship, so she kicked it off for the family and we’ve followed in her footsteps. They’re very proud of me. I wish I could see them more often.

What do you miss about Australia now you are living in Los Angeles? My friends and family, and also the lifestyle. I grew up on the beach, I’d woken up to the ocean my whole life so it was strange to move to a city and wake up to cars and not be able to walk along the beach with my dog every morning. I had a very laid-back lifestyle in Australia and America is much more rush-around. There are also cultural differences. I was at a pool party in LA and said: ‘I can’t find my thong’ and everyone was running around looking for a G-string when I meant I couldn’t find my shoes.

Do you have any favourite wacky storylines from your time on Home And Away? Everyone on Home And Away has those storylines – it all goes wrong in Summer Bay. I entered the show as an abuse victim, then had a domestic violence storyline, and I left the show 18, pregnant and HIV-positive – I didn’t have a bad run. It’s good training for emotionally intense work. The HIV storyline was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever done. I met women who were HIV-positive that had given birth to HIV-negative babies. Their stories were tragic but also inspiring.

What’s happening with the female version of The Expendables? It’s an all-female cast of kick-ass women – I’m very flattered the director wanted to include me among some of the greatest action women of the moment. We’ll be finding out more about the project in the next month.

Your weight has been criticised by some websites – is that difficult to deal with? It’s really only one particular website, which is annoying. It’s one of those things. They’ve been writing the same story for the past seven years. I’ve been a ballerina, I’ve always been a very physical person, and my weight fluctuates when I’m shooting. People are going to say what they want. Papers and websites will take a picture and either write something positive or negative – it’s just that some are more regularly negative than others.

What are your ultimate career ambitions? I want to do this for the rest of my life and I’ve also found I love writing. I’d love to do more tough-girl roles – I loved You’re Next. My goal for this year is to finish a screenplay. I’ve got multitudes that are either half or three-quarters done. One is a western, one’s an animated film about a dog – there are all sorts.